Friday, November 7, 2014

'independent' news coverage

SEATTLE (AP) — FBI Director James Comey says an agent impersonated an Associated Press reporter during a 2007 criminal investigation, a ruse the news organization says could undermine its credibility....
In a letter Thursday to Comey and Holder, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the agency for full disclosure about the incident.
"The utilization of news media as a cover for delivery of electronic surveillance software is unacceptable," the letter said. "This practice endangers the media's credibility and creates the appearance that it is not independent of the government. It undermines media organizations' ability to independently report on law enforcement." [Emphasis added]
Reporters 'embedded' in wartime settings and softball questioning at presidential news conferences are but two examples of how fatuous the above statement is. The committee's statement is a bit like a whorehouse madame defending virginity.  It's even more galling, perhaps, because such independence might actually be good news for those reading the news.

2 comments:

  1. Never was what it used to be. We just thought it was what we wanted.

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  2. You might try streaming kpfa.org or pacifica.org. I listened to them a lot on the radio when i could get a signal. On the weekends they have really good music. But mostly news, the kind where you hear someone on the ground calling in what they see. Their closest stations to you would be New York city and Washington D.C. But it's donor supported with no grants from corporations, and so independent of those influences. Rabidly anti those influences in the world.

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